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Eradûn, The Ever-Wood
Welcome to Eradû, the Ever-Wood, the Creeping Forest, the Canopy of Hell, home of the Vargr and Seelie, and much more! GEOGRAPHY: An area with a mix of temperate and deciduous forest butting up against mountains. The area is in the realm of a “wild woods” anomaly and thus is full of strange and wonderful and horrible flora and fauna and expands aggressively. Giant trees, giant plants, giant mushrooms, giant plant elementals, and of course giant fauna are common; one can just as easily find baseball sized legumes as house sized squash. In the heart of the forest is also a massive fungal forest within the understory (think Nausica the Ghibli movie but less poison air) from which a network of roots and mycelium spreads across Eradûn and connects almost every tree and other plant. BIOLOGY/ETHNICITY: The Vargr are green skinned humanoids with wolf ears and tails as well as wolf-like senses and a higher tolerance for cold climates. Vargr on average live for about 120 years but have been known to live to 200 in very rare cases. Vargr also are physically stronger on average and have stronger than average stomach acid that can digest even bones in the rare cases that they are desperate enough to do that. Vargr’s eyes are a golden amber color and their hair and fur is often shades of black and brown in the warm months and shades of grey and white in the cold months. HISTORY: It is said by the druids that in the days of old, the Horned God, Hrodgær, and the Wild Mother, Era’nai, shaped the first Vargr out of clay and wrapped them in the greenest leaves of summer to protect them when the winter came. The oldest records say the Vargr were always in Eradûn, there isn’t much known about where they came before SOCIETY: The vargr are generally a meritocracy. Vargr live in large tribes, called packs, which are part of clans, which are part of clan-councils, there is no unified leadership among the vargr but legends tell of a “true alpha” that united them long ago. Anyways, packs are led by an alpha pair (husband and wife/ partners though the former is preferred for reasons I’ll get into in another post) and clans are represented by the strongest alphas in the Council. To become an alpha a vargr and their SO must get support from at least half the pack before they can challenge the alphas to a duel. If they win fights against the alphas (2x 1v1 or 2v2) they become the new alphas. The pack support ensures that they are trustworthy, intelligent, capable, and most of all have the pack’s support. The duel is so that, while they may be mentally very strong, they must also be physically strong to lead the pack on hunts and battles. Vargr are instinctively unwaveringly loyal to their alphas, but this loyalty must first be earned. CULTURE: Vargr are a communal, pack-oriented people with great pride in their culture and nature-fixated way of life. Parents, once “bonded” in a sort of marriage ritual, raise many children together in their pack and teach them their ways, from hunting with fangs and bows, to playing traditional musical instruments, folktales and legends of their people, and the countless things they know about the natural world from oral traditions to runic manuscripts. Vargr are a very communal people, they take care of one another, especially children. When a vargr child is asked who their parents are, they often list out their pack, their mother, their father, and their den mothers and den fathers. Gay couples who have no children of their own often end up becoming the pack’s babysitters, to the point that some feel just as much like family as a child’s biological family. Vargr live in houses in the trees, ruins of nations the forest claimed, or most commonly, burrows and tunnels in the ground below the forest. The pack living space is called a den, and is very sacred to them (will elaborate in another post). Most importantly, the Vargr have a deep connection to nature and respect for the world around them. Their art, music, clothing, myths, and magic always have some nature symbolism in them. They believe they are blessed by nature and that it is their sacred duty to defend and nurture it. OCCURRENCE OF MAGIC: magic users are about as common as average, 1/100. Almost every pack has at least and they see magic as a gift from the gods of nature and so seek to make the most of them, usually as warriors, druids, healers, shamans, and sometimes alphas. I’ll go into more detail later, but essentially Vargr magic focuses on biomancy and necromancy, the natural cycles of life and death and channel the power/spirits within both, as well as some geomancy to support the soil and build their homes most harmoniously with nature. PORTAL: (I and u/TinyLittleFlame will be sharing a portal pair, but neither of these portals will be functioning anymore.) Long ago a portal connected what was once normal forest land with a far away place. As the creeping wood spread through the region and the ancient vargr waged war with the people living there, those people discovered this small portal, escaped through it, and through a powerful ritual now lost to time, they sealed the portal before the vargr could catch them. The portal end in Eradûn now rests empty and magicless except for faint hints of aether, within the cavernous skull of a long dead titan, known to few except a pack of druids and whispering fae... MAJOR EXPORTS/IMPORTS: The vargr do not have much contact with other nations except for their neighbor, u/OceansCarraway (and they like it that way) but their goods find their way into his markets and other markets and border packs may be willing to trade as well if friendly relations have been established. Imports: wool, cotton, iron (they forge their own but in relatively limited amounts, and it’s mostly bog iron), grains, bulk foodstuffs (they don’t really do wide scale farming except for fungi, silk, fruits, nuts, rodents, and some other things), salt, spices, finished goods, magical items, etc. Exports: wood, silk, furs, bone, ivory, fungal brick, fungal concrete, edible fungi, recreational fungi, magical fungi, charcoal, paper, giant veggies and nuts, medicinal plants and their seeds, natural herbal remedies and magical potions, rune enchanting, and other magical services if you find a willing Druid. —-- NAME: The Seelie LOCATION: (See Eradûn) GEOGRAPHY: (See Eradûn) BIOLOGY/ETHNICITY: The Seelie are fairies with bird-like wings and bird-like legs from the knee down. They also have insect-like antenna and big dark insect-like eyes. The average height is 8-10 inches tall and the average age is about twenty years, though mages can live twice that long if they are careful. They usually have pale white skin, but can also have dark grey or piebald skinned. Seelie are clever, vicious omnivorous creatures with child-like voices as well as morals. They act sweet and innocent but will do anything to get what they want and are no strangers to petty revenge for small slights. One other thing to note is that Seelie have three genders: males, females, and aiermales to be elaborated on later. HISTORY: The Seelie have always been a part of the ecosystem of Eradûn, but there is no definitive record of where they came from. The Seelie believe they were made long ago by The Fairy Queen, the most beautiful fey in all the world. They say she has gossamer wings that catch the morning dew and turn them into diamonds. Her wings are so beautiful they make birds weep and butterflies turn into moths in shame, her voice is like the sweetest birdsong but so much more enchanting that even titans will stop to listen. She is the ruler and goddess of the Seelie and the most powerful being in the Fey Realm - so say the Seelie. SOCIETY: Below the Fairy Queen exists her “royal guard”, a fairies from a hive in her “Court” that exist to protect her and are actually well trained in combat. Below them, are all Seelie, who either live in hives taking care of new Seelie, or travel through the woods with friends. Seelie usually travel with two close friends, or on rare occasions alone. Why they group in this specific number is unknown, but it is likely for mating purposes, since they have three genders. However, they do not form these cliques with one of each gender in mind, and may not always even be attracted to Seelie of opposite genders. Those that travel alone usually do so with some purpose in mind or simply have no friends, but most Seelie crave socialization and loathe being alone. However, those that want to travel alone, are best left alone, a lone fairy might be just as dangerous as a whole swarm. Once they've found a nice spot they’ll call more wandering fairies, build a hidden nest, make an even more hidden fairy ring, and be nearly impossible to remove. These hives always contain a number of Seelie divisible by three, most likely as an evolutionary mating-related behavior. Seelie are born and raised in large “nests” which are often hidden in hard to find and dangerous places, nests are made in a network of small interconnected nests called hives. A hive can house up to two hundred Seelie, all living close together, for the sole purpose of raising young until they can leave and live on their own, and to create a safe space for Seelie to rest. Every hive has a fairy ring which connects them to “the Fairy Queen’s Court” (more on that in the next section) CULTURE: Seelie are sentient and fairly intelligent, yet they live like animals and are often considered to be animals. They do not invent, but instead steal, copy, or destroy. To them, the hardship and work isn't worth the payoff, especially since they have such short lives. Why till fields and plant and such when the forest provides well enough? Seelie also see all property as belonging to everyone if they can take it, so they guard their most precious things fervently and also have no qualms about stealing from others. As far as they are concerned, if one has it, it is theirs, as soon as someone else has it, it is now that person’s. Seelie live their lives doing what they want with their cliques, tormenting others for their own amusement, and leaving behind more Seelie to “play” with the next generation of victims to come. OCCURRENCE OF MAGIC: All Seelie mages (which make up 1/100 of the population) can use translating magic to understand the words of others. According to legend, long ago a Seelie was deceived because of a miscommunication in language, and so The Fairy Queen blessed her favored fey (all magical Seelie) with the gift of all language so that would never happen again. Seelie mages can also share this gift to others for one hour by giving them “the Fairy Queen’s Kiss” (a sharp bite on the neck to drink some blood and leave a minor enchantment behind). Otherwise, Seelie mages may be born as one of three types, with a fourth type occurring in one 10th of the mage population (1/1000 of the general population) Nightmare Weavers: By touching or even just being near a sleeping person, they can bring about unimaginably horrific and hyper realistic nightmares. Hallucinationists: The most common, these can cause hallucinations and illusions, which can include sights, sounds, smells, and even minor touch alterations. These require continual concentration though and are rarely perfect illusions. Thankfully they can also induce “suspension of disbelief” for those that don’t have particularly keen minds or any magical ability of their own, to help trick and coerce their victims Mind Thieves: These fey can see into the minds of others and make them think some of their memories are gone. This creates a physical change in the brain to sever neuron connections to truly “forget” but this magic only makes people think their reality is warped, it doesn’t actually change the world at large, though they will say otherwise. Thieves often play cruel pranks like asking for your name and then actually taking it. The rarest and most powerful can also steal memories to keep for themselves if they are powerful enough mages. Ring Bearers: These are portal making fairies. In a complex ritual requiring a full moon at its apex, nine magic mushrooms from the heart of Eradûn, the severed heart of a sentient child (they usually kidnap other races children but will use than their own in a pinch), and a nest inhabited by at least 30 seelie, a ring mage can make a one foot diameter portal that goes through one specific portal in a mana crystal cave below the heart of Eradûn: The Fairy Queen’s Court. These rings only stay open for as long as a ring mage holds them open and while they can go from the Queen’s Court to other fey made portals, they can only use portals that are also held open. Portals are always inactive unless a mage holds them open and they can only be held open for half an hour in one sitting. Nothing except a willing ring mage can open them. When inactive these portals look like (irl) fairy rings: circles of mushrooms and maybe a few mana crystals if the portal is frequently used. PORTAL: I have one portal that is connected to Tiny’s claim but it is inactive, so I’d like to see if I can have one active portal? It exists in a mana crystal cave below Eradûn and is only known to the Seelie. Any portals they make always can only exit through this portal, no where else, and when one goes through this portal, they end up getting tossed right back out unless they can “grab onto” an open fairy ring and jump through. MAJOR EXPORTS/IMPORTS: Exports: their own unique Magic Mushrooms, “fey crystals” (magic crystals), pranks, curses, and chaos. Imports: They Seelie are greedy little creatures that will rarely turn down a gift - though if they don’t like it they’ll insult you enough while still taking it. The main things Seelie would want are food, shiny things (no iron though), magic items, and most coveted of all, information. Any new information is good information and they eagerly fly out in search of more of it to use against people and to help themselves later. —— Note: I plan on expanding a lot this shard, when and if my borders meet my neighbors, there will likely be conflicts if diplomacy falls through, and I will have a monstrous arsenal if I do go to war. My whole claim is designed to be naturally aggressively expanding, if you don’t want to be involved in that kind of plot or don’t want to allow the forest to creep in but don’t want to extensively discuss or have a little plot for why, please don’t claim next to me in the initial claiming phase. It would create an odd and problematic situation lore-wise and so, out of respect for the plot I’m working on, please do not claim near me. Category:Malador